DJ Joshua van Aalst

I know a lot of people have been eager to hear a review of the QSC KW and other new speaker series, so today I headed down to Guitar Center and spent a chunk of time carefully reviewing the following:

· QSC KW 181 Subwoofer

· QSC KW 153 3 Way Top

· JBL PRX 612 M

· Yamaha DSR 112

For a baseline I also compared these to the well known:

· QSC K 12

· QSC K Sub

I tested all combinations of EQ settings on the back of the speakers such as Norm, Deep, Vocal Boost and Exit Bass (Cross Over).

For the tests I tried each of the following tracks on each speaker:

· Afro Nuts (D Cup Remix) – Yolanda be Cool

o Used as it has a strong heavy electro style base

· Every Other Way – BT (Gabriel and Dresden)

o Used as it is a Trance track rather than a House track so has a deeper and darker sound to it

· Teenage Dreams (Glee Cast Version)

o Used as it is an Acapella

Myself and the Guitar Center employee who also works in a band, heard all 6 speakers and he provided some thoughts and feedback as well.

QSC KW 181

This sub absolutely kicks. No words can describe how impressed we were with it. The bass was tight, punchy and loud. You could really feel the bass pushing and forcing you to dance, especially in the Yolanda Be Cool track.

When couple with a pair of QSC K12s it provided significantly more bass over their Deep setting and really rounded out the sound. We switched back and forwards between the KW 181 and the K Sub, which rumbled in comparison and did not tightly punch.

Another improvement of the KW 181 over the K Sub is the change in castors. When the K Sub is turned up the castors can audibly rattle. The KW 181 uses a different type of castor that does not rattle. Note: to be fair to comparing the true K Sub's sound, the guitar center employee and I took turns holding them still while we evaluated its sound.

Lastly the QSC KW 181 appears smaller than the older QSC HPR 181i that it replaced.

QSC KW 153

The QSC KW 153 has a similar sound to the QSC K 12 + QSC KW 181 combination, so deep and clear albeit slightly less bass kick. We tested with and without the KW 181 and the bass improvement was noticeable but marginal at the same time. As in you could hear it and say yes I can hear more bass but it wasn’t as noticeable as when we switched the KW 181 on and off with the K 12. Therefore I believe the KW 153 could run without a subwoofer. I would definitely not advise running the K 12 without a sub for dance events.

JBL PRX 612 M

The JBL PRX 612 M sounded muddy and unclear in comparison to the QSC top speakers. We switched back and forwards at various points in the tracks but both the Guitar Center employee and I could not find a single section that sounded better on the JBLs than on the QSCs. The speaker did seem lighter in weight than the QSC K 12. Also I felt the plastic like appearance of the box was not as pleasing to look at as the QSC speakers.

Yamaha DSR 112

The Yamaha DSR 112 was a nice speaker and sound wise sat between the JBL PRX 612 M and the QSC K 12. It was clearer then the JBL PRX 612 M but not as clear as the QSC K 12.

Conclusion

Overall I was absolutely amazed by the sound of QSC KW 181 subwoofer. It really rounded out the QSC K/KW series by providing tight loud punchy bass that the series had been longing. I would have liked to hear the QSC KW 122 the KW series version of the K 12 (a 12 inch 2 way top) but they didn’t have it in stock. That being said I strongly recommend the QSC K 12s + a QSC KW 181 for smaller gigs and the QSC KW 153s + several QSC KW 181s for larger gigs.